In a recent speech on foreign policy, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) said this about President Barack Obama:
“I will not surrender America’s role in the world. This is very simple: If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. You have that President today.”
Romney is free to question Obama’s policies if he believes those policies are wrong. But to impugn Obama’s motives — to say that Obama doesn’t want the country to lead, that he wants it to “surrender” — is nothing but demonizing and derisive caricature.
Ironically, Romney’s comments came a day before making these remarks about civility:
“We should remember that decency and civility are values too. … Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate.”
Romney made these remarks in response to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who has been critical of the Mormon faith (Romney is a Mormon). This just goes to prove the point I’ve made several times before, which is that — as often as our political leaders call for civil debate — they only notice derisive name-calling when they’re the victims of it, not when they’re the perpetrators of it.
People shouldn’t be demonizing Romney (or anyone else) for being Mormon. But Romney shouldn’t be demonizing Obama, either.